Here, Forever
by Kiriyu
Summary: Based on a dream I once had, so bear with me if it gets a little odd. Kagome has been trapped in her own time for nine years, but now who is this strange little demon who says he can help her?


It was a cloudy day. Kagome was tending to the garden of the now broken-down shrine where she lived. It was hard to take care of all by herself, but still she kept at it, refusing to let the place she used to hold so dear fall into further disrepair.   
  
The years had been hard, living here all by herself for so long. It had been sad when Grandpa had died, of course. But things hadn't really started to go downhill until her mother had been taken by illness. After that, Sota and Kagome had had to struggle along on their own. Then, five years ago, Sota had left too. He had gone off to lead his own life. Now, only Kagome remained. She refused to leave. She wouldn't leave this place, the place where she had grown up, the place where she had started her adventures.  
  
Now, Kagome was not on any adventures. She was here, trapped on this side of the well, doing nothing but trying to keep the old shrine from falling into ruins.  
  
This was what Kagome was doing now. She was weeding the beds around the shrine. She kept working until she had made her way to the small building that housed the well. She had come to this place last. She hated working at this part of the shrine. Still, something compelled her to not let it fall apart. She continued in her labor.   
  
Kagome usually tried to keep herself from thinking about her situation. Today, though, she couldn't stop herself. She paused in her work, then stopped and stood up. She walked to the entrance of the hut, but didn't go in. 'It's been so long...' she thought. 'So long since I've been there...'   
  
She walked inside, and then kneeled at the side of the well. She began thinking about when she had discovered she was trapped here.   
  
At first, when she had found that she couldn't get through the well, she was hysterical. It didn't make any sense. She refused to accept it. Over and over she climbed to the edge and jumped, and over and over she landed with a thump on the bottom. But as many times as she had tried, she still couldn't get through.  
  
After a few days, Kagome had decided she was being silly. "Well, after I've been gone for a few more days, I'm sure Inu-Yasha will come and get me," she had said. But he had never come. She waited and waited, but he never appeared.  
  
At first, Kagome had thought that he was just being stubborn. 'But, that doesn't make sense,' she had thought, 'we weren't fighting when I left. I just told him that I was going back for bandages and medicine. He wouldn't leave me here for this long just for being stubborn.' It was true. As obstinate as Inu-Yasha could be, he wouldn't just abandon her for no reason. That's when Kagome had realized it. Inu-Yasha couldn't get through either.  
  
That must be it. Why else wouldn't he come and get her for so long? She was the only one who could sense the jewel shards, after all. Besides... would he miss her? Would he be worried that she hadn't come back? Would he care?  
  
Thoughts like these plagued Kagome all the time since she found she was stuck here. She often wondered if Inu-Yasha had even tried to come and get her. She spent a lot of time thinking about him and the others. She wondered what they were doing, if they were okay, if they worried about her. How was Shippo handling her absence? Had they defeated Naraku? Had Sango gotten her revenge? What had become of Kohaku? Had Miroku's wind tunnel been healed?  
  
She often wondered about the Shikon No Tama. She still possessed a few of the shards; that was one of the reasons why it was so perplexing that she couldn't get through the well. But that also meant that no one on the other side had completed it. What would happen when Naraku discovered that he would never possess the entire jewel?  
  
In some of her darker moments, she wondered if maybe Sesshomaru had killed Inu-Yasha, like he had promised to so many times before. Or maybe they hadn't defeated Naraku in time, and Miroku had been pulled into his own hand. Or maybe Naraku had come and killed them all at last.   
  
Sometimes, she even wondered if Inu-Yasha had gone to Hell with Kikyo, and that's why he had never come. If maybe he had truly forgotten about Kagome, and had left her behind forever. When thoughts like these came along, she would usually run to her room and cry herself to sleep.   
  
More than anything, though, she wondered why she couldn't get through the well.  
  
Why, why, why hadn't she been able to get through? What had happened that had trapped her here? Why had she been forced to leave her friends behind? Why had she been forced to leave Inu-Yasha behind?  
  
Now, she was just kneeling by the well, thinking all of these thoughts again. It had been about nine years now since she had found she could never return to her friends. Over the years, she had tried a few times to jump through the well again, but after a while, she had given up. Still, she never had really given up the hope that she could go back. That's why she still lived at the shrine, even though she was all alone. Now, it had been about a year since Kagome had last attempted to go back.  
  
It was so unfair. She had been ripped from her friends, and she still didn't know why. She missed them so much. She couldn't stand that it had been so long since she had seen them.  
  
A sudden fierce determination seized Kagome. She stood up abruptly. She would go back. She had to try. She stepped up onto the edge of the well. She balanced there for a second, perched on the old wood. It had to work this time. It just had to. She stared down at the dark bottom of the well. Then, with a deep breath and a determined look, she jumped.  
  
She fell. For a moment, she let herself hope, let herself believe that she would find herself 500 years back in time, back with her friends, back with Inu-Yasha. Maybe this time, when she hit the bottom of the well, she would see those lights all around her, and she would climb out of the well on the other side, back into the village.  
  
These hopes vanished in an instant. She hit the bottom of the well and... nothing. Nothing happened.  
  
She stayed there for a long while, sitting on her knees, head bowed, hair shadowing her eyes. She knew she wouldn't get through. She knew she shouldn't have hoped. She knew she shouldn't have tried. She was just setting her self up for more disappointment, more sadness. Nothing had changed. She couldn't go back.  
  
This was not the first time Kagome had attempted to pass through the well and failed. But this time, something broke inside of Kagome. A tear trickled down her cheek. This time, she really did give up hope.   
  
Even during all the time she had lived at the shrine by her self, even after all the times she had tried but not been able to go through, some part of her still hoped that something would change, that someday she would be able to see her friends again. She had hoped that maybe, one day, Inu-Yasha would come springing out of the well, with that impatient look on his face, asking her where the hell she'd been all this time. But, of course, that had never happened. He wasn't going to come. She would never see him again. And it was useless to hope.  
  
Kagome wiped the tears from her face and stood up from the bottom of the well. As she climbed up the side, she swore to herself that she would never try to go through the well again. Ever. She just had to deal with the fact that she could never go back. It was time to give up.  
  
She emerged from the well, and sat on the edge. It was dark in this hut. The clouds outside hid the sun and made it look later that in was. Dark shadows filled the corners of the hut. It was difficult to see.   
  
Suddenly, Kagome thought she saw movement a corner of the room. It was small, but she was sure there was something there. She stood up and walked towards the corner to investigate.  
  
As she approached the spot, whatever it was moved again, more quickly this time, as if it was afraid of her. Kagome approached it, now more cautiously. The movement stopped. Kagome heard a sound, rather like a chuckle. Then, two gleaming eyes appeared out of the darkness.  
  
Kagome gasped. They were not human eyes. They looked like... but no, they couldn't be.... demon eyes? 


End file.
